To the editor:
The recent “Will he/Won’t he?” discussion about Sheriff Borkovich’s possible collaboration with ICE officials rightly puts the focus on Leelanau County’s local law enforcement, but it implicitly raises another related question: What about the rest of us?
In 1850, the US Congress passed a renewed Fugitive Slave Act that created draconian dangers for people escaping from slavery, including the requirement that local citizens assist in their capture and return to bondage. Many Michiganders, white and Black, refused to cooperate, creating a series of safe spaces on the Underground Railroad, and common citizens offered shelter and support, and sometimes even outright physical resistance, in defense of freedom-seekers. They succeeded in saving hundreds.
